I never have experienced a cold morning in India the way I did waking up to a loud fire-cracker in our tent on the 2nd day of our outing (the fire-cracker was our wake up call.) Kshama Masi (Kaushal’s mom) had previously plotted to wake me up with the help of a local man working at the resort that had an uncanny resemblance to Jafar (we all know who that is.) As I was sleeping I heard the two conspirators trying but ultimately failing to spook me out of bed. The man, whose name still remains a mystery, came into the room- yelling for everyone to get out. Knowing damn well of his intentions, I simply looked at him and pulled the dusty covers over my head. Now I wouldn’t say Jafar (we’ll call him this for the sake of the blog) was the best looking man in all of the land- but having his face imprinted in my mind from that point onward- I really couldn’t just stay in bed.. 
I opened the canvas “door” still in my pjs’ to two men with buckets of hot water. As the steam floated off each bucket I was reminded of the level of service these employees were dedicated to delivering. Showering was next- this was old-school, after taking in the bucket of super heated water and mixing it with the freezing cold water from the pipes in the shower it created a luxurious lukewarm (but pleasant) showering medium. No freefalling waterfall here, a smaller pale was then used to actually get this water from the bucket onto my frozen skin- every moment that passed without the warm water running over my head a breeze curled by my side making the possibility of hypothermia an unlikely but scary reality. 
Without further detail of my shower experiences, I’ll fast forward. We were on the road again. Compared to the villages visited the day before, the two towns we visited that day were unique in that each specialized in certain crafts unmatched by competitors. The first town specialized in wooden-work made again in a primitive manner without the use of modern tools. It was a display of good old fashion elbow grease. As a man proceeded to give us a demonstration of carving simple household tools; the locals of the town as previously, set up booths of merchandise to again have the opportunity to sell sell sell. Using nothing more than applied science he showed how rotation, friction, and repetition were used to apply lacquer of these handmade wooden forms. As the others proceeded to buy things- I again was fascinated with my surroundings and like a reporter from CNN, I had taken as many “taboo” photos as humanly possible. 
Finishing up with some purchases we did not waste any time before we were on the road again. Minutes away, Nirona Village boasted two exclusive styles of traditional handicraft. Roghan an extremely rare form of indian painting is so intricate it resembles embroidery and iron bellmaking which to this day is made without and exothermic energy. Amidst the towns roads that reminded me of the ancient city of Pompeii in Italy stood a very small and humble bell-making shop. Inside an elder man greeted our group with smiles and offered to another demo (and on-going theme) of how his famous bells were created. 
Offering seating for the women and the men standing close by, he seated himself on the floor of his shop drove a large metal stake into the sand portion of the floor, placed his anvil close by and using tools made by the men on that talking lizard commercials in the States- he began. Slowly cutting relatively thick pieces of iron and using various hammers he slowly, almost magically crafted a perfect hollow cylinder. Making his skill look nearly effortless, the man sculpted a dome among for the top of the cylinder among other small pieces- soon enough after he made a few adjustments for proper fitting, he assembled all the pieces and shook his finished product.
The beautiful noises created was indeed rewarding for him and his audience. Once finished he passed around his newly created product for inspection and judgment. A+ was written in the eyes of our company as we gawked at that simple yet extraordinary instrument. After running our hands as display models and noticing this wasn’t exactly a NAT GEO moment- I borrowed some money and set out to find the perfect set of bells my neighbors would be hearing by my return to the States. Setting out on the narrow road of the village again- we were directed to a Roghan artist’s home/shop what I saw next really cant be described in words- so here are a few pictures.
As the day progressed it was not before long we set out to our next destination. The Great Rann (pronounced RUN) of Kutch was next- Imagine salt in the horizon as far as you can see... once vast shallows of the Arabian Sea, geological uplift closed off the connection eons ago- this salt desert is all that remains..
"Folks who never do any more than they get paid for, never get paid for any more than they do." -Elbert Hubbard
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